Fighting The Wrong Enemy

Posted on June 23, 2011 Written by Mark McIntyre 1 Comment

I read this morning in Mark 9:40, that whoever is not against us is for us. These are the very words of Jesus Christ but often forgotten by those that bear his name. We expend energy in fighting other believers and ignoring the real enemy.

Too often doctrinal litmus tests are developed to see who is in and who is not. We spend effort dividing over Bible translations, pet doctrines, music styles, dress style, building style and other non-essential issues.

The King James Only crowd think us reprobate because we read and teach from a “modern” translation. The reformed people have great sport bashing the dispensationalists. The dispensationalists retaliate with derision for reformed eschatology. The list of reasons to divide is seemingly endless. These are a few examples of the disputes within the community of those who take the Bible seriously and seek to live out what it says.

This post is not a plea to water down or soften or eliminate a hard stand on what the Bible says. We do not need to compromise what we believe. There are passages which speak directly to the issues of today and we need to uncompromisingly teach them.

There are groups which have beliefs that are clearly in conflict with Scripture, usually recognizing other “sacred” books which are necessary for understanding the Bible. We are not to compromise on doctrine, nor should we cease to point out the error in these false religions. Jesus is not saying that all interpretations of Scripture are equally valid.

I think that the point Jesus makes in this verse is that we are to concentrate on fighting the real enemy and stand shoulder to shoulder with anyone who is willing to join us in the battle, whether we agree with them on every doctrinal point or not.

My guess is that when the battle is finally over we will all find out that our own knowledge was incomplete and some of the people we bashed along the way had as much truth as we.

Anyone who is bringing people into relationship with Jesus Christ is our ally. Anyone who is pointing people to Scripture as the foundation for belief and practice is our friend. Those who are not against us are for us.

What do you think?

About Mark McIntyre

A follower of Jesus Christ who shares observations about how Scripture should impact the church and the world. Mark is the original author and editor of Attempts at Honesty.

I Am Still Ambivalent About Harry Potter

Keeping some perspective on Harry Potter I was forwarded a recent article denouncing Christianity Today for not taking a strong Anti Harry Potter stance. While I have had my own issues with some of the writers at Christianity Today and there are things in that CT article with which I do not agree, let’s put […]

Choose To Be A Servant: Example of Nebuchadnezzar

Nebuchadnezzar had been an eyewitness to several miracles, yet he remained proud and self-reliant. In this section of Daniel 4 we see that God reduced him from his throne to eating grass in the field like a wild animal. Nebuchadnezzar was taken from being arguably the most powerful man in the world to a homeless madman.

Clowney on spiritual decay

As Clowney points out, when this happens it is a sign of spiritual decay. It is a sign that the leaders of those churches lost sight of their true purpose.

Let’s not overstate the case – Another cliche to avoid

It is important to think about what we say to a world that needs Jesus. Some of our cliches are not helpful. In this post I consider one and explain why I think this cliche should be avoided.

Ladd on the cares of this age

. . . it is the character of This Age to choke the working of the Word of God. The spirit of the Age is hostile to the Gospel.

External versus Internal Focus

I’ve been involved in some discussions recently regarding the focus of the church. Should our focus be toward the outside to bring new people in or should our focus be on building people up that are already in the church? I struggle to see how these two can be separated without doing damage to what […]